The Internet Monk
"Read.Think.React.Write.Live."
A Webjournal edited by Michael Spencer
It's A (Christian) Guy Thing
The Internet Monk Reviews Promise Keepers '02
by Michael Spencer
When
I am asked what I think of Promise Keepers, I say that it’s like
hanging out with Pentecostal football players. Even if you’re not
Pentecostal or a football player, it’s still fun.
Every couple of years, I seem to find myself at a Promise Keepers event. Even though PK isn’t the perfect match for a reformed, Southern Baptist “Founder’s” movement boy like me, I still enjoy the events a lot. Much about it returns me to the revivalistic Arminian fundamentalism I grew up with, but have moved away from, and a visit every few years is a healthy thing for me. This year, I took my fourteen year old son along to introduce him to this interdenominational men’s movement and show him a face of American Christianity he won’t see very often. I may or may not go back again, but I am a friend of what PK is all about.
A few weeks ago I found an internet site called “PK Watch,” where some mullet wearing feminists looking for trouble claimed to secretly monitor the goings-on in Promise Keepers. It demonstrated the perception many underinformed feminists have of this largest branch of the men’s counter-movement. They are convinced PK is all about establishing a males-only oligarchy, ordering women into burkas, and taking the vote (and the right to abortion) away from the fairer sex.
Whoever is these detecting political schemes at PK is tuned in to the wrong channel, because PK has stayed remarkably true to its original vision of appealing to men in a way designed to awaken their latent sense of honor, nobility and leadership. PK is a revivalistic and pietistic movement in evangelicalism that has far more in common with Billy Sunday and Samuel Shoemaker than Ralph Reed or Newt Gingrich. As one character says in Chariots of Fire, “What we need is an athletic Christian, to make people sit up and take notice.” This is sawdust-trail-walking, take-the-preacher’s-hand-and-promise-to-be-a- real-man Christianity.
The remarkable thing about Promise Keepers is how contemporary charismatic worship and men’s movement sensitivity have combined to create an event where the fervor of worshiping God and the honesty to cry over what a jerk you’ve been with your wife and kids co-exist quite easily. Men sitting on the floor with tom-toms, hugging one another and saying “It’s all right, Bob. Let it all out,” would be quite appropriate. But I’m not poking fun. One cannot visit a PK meeting and listen to the prayers and small group sharing without being impressed that these men genuinely want to be better husbands and dads, and certainly want to be more devoted Christians.
One also cannot help
but be impressed at what may be the single most ecumenical event in
American Christianity other than a Billy Graham crusade. (Sorry Osama,
but I still love that very un-PC term.) Any time you can see the
PK’s attempts at being cross-cultural and inter-racial are just as sincere, though a scan across the room will reveal that white bread is still being served on at least 90% of the sandwiches. But Asians, African-Americans, native Americans and Hispanics are visible in everything PK does, and I am supportive of any kind of American Christianity that goes out of its way to say this isn’t a white man’s religion of oppression.
Though I am positive about much in Promise Keepers, there is plenty to criticize, in the spirit of humble discernment and Christian charity.
For starters, there is a theological softness to PK that goes along with its ability to cross boundaries. In my experience, when the lines are not clearly drawn, a kind of generic Pentecostal/Charismatic shorthand theology will dominate. And that is surely the case at PK. Whether it is worship, preaching or the general tone of the meeting, everything fits nicely into a niche that is Jack Hayford-esque. Hey, it could be a lot worse, but you can understand why Catholics are never offended and the Mormons thought they could sneak in. It’s safe for PK to be more doctrinally explicit, but I doubt that will ever happen.
I evaluate any meeting I attend by how clearly the Biblical Gospel was communicated and explicitly made the reason for what we’re doing. PK has a great appreciation for the Biblical Gospel, but as in most Arminian circles, the emphasis on what we must do can seem louder than the message of what Christ has done. PK is God-centered, but it could be more explicitly Christ centered in making the Gospel, not our own efforts and enthusiasm, the focus of what is done.
There is also a problem with money. PK events used to be free, and financed through offerings and gifts. Of course, that won’t work, but now a PK weekend will cost $60, and the in-stadium expenses will add another $20 minimum. Add in the motel and gas, and it's starting to get out of the range of most of those lower middle class guys in those desirable ethnic groups, as well as the rest of us who aren't in the affluent suburbs.
Then PK relentlessly markets more events, books, clothes, music, phone service, internet providers- the whole evangelical Jesus-junk road show. This is a group of men yearning to be decked out in logo gear, witty t-shirts and spiritual jewelry. A guy wearing a plain shirt is looked at with suspicion.
The entire event is
staffed by unpaid volunteers, and we are repeatedly told the
organization is spending all its money on renting venues, not on
salaries. I have to say, I’m doubtful that the financial house is in
order. As a person who just can’t conscientiously give any more money
to Christian causes in
PK also has a case of spiritual ego that I believe dates from its inception, when former football coach Bill McCartney found his dream of a stadium full of men overflowing into a massive, nation-wide movement. Like most American ministries that have numerical success, PK believes it is a special chosen instrument of God to save America. Everything it promotes is a special project pipelined to the leadership directly by the Almighty. “God has given us a Vision” could be translated as, “We have another big program we want to promote."
And while it pays excellent lip service to the local church, it’s very clear that PK believes the local church has not risen to the challenges before it, and that God has raised up PK as a movement to renew and invigorate the church, or even go beyond it in many ways. PK is right on some issues, particularly race relations, but like a teenager who is a bit taller than his dad, there is a juvenile attitude at work in much of this self-promotion.
This is the same view of many successful parachurch ministries that experience numerical success by streamlining and focusing their mission and eliminating the generational, denominational and traditional baggage the church carries. It may be true that parachurch ministries have a lot to teach the church, but any movement that limits its mission to men or youth or women or students, and doesn’t try to build a community across generations and preferences, can’t claim to be the model for the real church.
I was perplexed to hear PK promoting an emphasis called “A Million Men at the Cross” that asked those present to commit to bringing five non-Christian men to a PK meeting in 2003 and 2004. I wasn’t perplexed at evangelism. (I’m not a hyper Calvinist!) PK has seen many professions of faith in their meetings, as men have brought their friends to make a public profession of faith in Christ in an atmosphere of incredible support and camaraderie. But now PK is wanting those five professions of faith to be on hold until a PK meeting so that PK can count them in their million!
I am sure more than one pastor listened to this with amazement. If a man is ready to make a profession of faith in Christ at a local church next week, what is the justification for saying he should wait until the next PK meeting so that PK can count the decision? Try explaining that to your pastor at the next men's meeting fellas. Such self-important, revivalistic, Arminian games are one of the reasons non-revivalist, reformed Christianity is growing. It brought back memories of at least a dozen nation wide evangelistic campaigns I've lived through. (I Found It. Ugh) Did we learn anything about the waste of resources inherent in this approach?
Every PK event has at least one football coach preaching, giving the locker room talk to men to get out there on the field and play sacrificially and with total abandonment to the cause. Those attending want- even need- those moments of coming forward to be in the embrace of thousands of other men who are committed to the same game. That PK allows men to experience the body of Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit in this kind of unique experience is good, and I pray God blesses its efforts. It's a framework for the Christian life that works for guys, and I like it. (Most of it.)
But, in the past, a
pastor could be sure that when his Promise Keepers came home, they would
support him and the local church most of all. It was that pastoral
support that made PK possible in so many churches that would never be
involved in another inter-denominational effort. If PK changes, and
begins to serve its own programs and goals more than the local church,
that pastoral blessing will vanish, and PK will be left looking down on
the local churches that have contributed to and benefited from its
success. That would be plain 'ol dumb, and I’m praying that never
happens, because, as it is, PK gives men an experience that points them
to joyful, useful service to King Jesus in their churches and families,
and that is a winning game plan everytime.